In the industrial mass production of motor vehicles, vehicle components are usually assembled in a flow process along assembly lines. At the same time, endeavors are increasingly being made to connect not only individual parts but vehicle components, which have already been preassembled into modules or aggregates. An example of such a connection of preassembled modules in vehicle construction is the so-called “marriage” in which a body module is connected to a chassis module along an assembly section of an assembly line.
For connection of the body module to the chassis module during the marriage in a conventional assembly line, the preassembled body module is supplied to the assembly section provided for the marriage by means of a hanging conveyor, and a body hanger suspended on the hanging conveyor serves for suspension of the body module. In this case, it is possible that the hanging conveyor lowers the body unit from a higher level to a lower level at the beginning of the assembly section.
Over the length of the assembly section provided for the marriage, assembly stands are guided at floor level for mounting the already preassembled chassis modules, these being conveyed below the hanging conveyor at the same speed and in the same direction as the body hanger. In this case, the assembly stands are guided onto a return loop at the end of the assembly section, through which these are conveyed back to the beginning of the assembly section alongside the assembly section. Mounting plates are usually mounted “floatingly” by means of roller bearings on the assembly stands. Due to the floating mounting of the mounting plates, these can be positioned in the longitudinal and transverse direction, relative to the flow direction of the assembly section. In the area of the return loop the preassembled chassis module is deposited in a defined mounting position on the mounting plates.
The chassis module deposited on the mounting plates usually comprises, in addition to frame parts and subframe, an engine-transmission module with radiator, a front and rear axle, in each case with spring struts or shock absorbers, and an exhaust system. The assembly stands or the mounting plates for mounting the chassis module are usually adjustable in height so that the chassis module can hereby be brought into a suitable height for the marriage relative to the body module.
The connection of chassis and body modules of motor vehicles in the flow process is common practice in industrial series production and is sufficiently known as such to those skilled in the art.
In order to achieve a suitable alignment of the chassis module in relation to the body module for the connection, hydraulically, pneumatically, or electrically operated alignment elements are provided, for example, entrainer pins fastened to the mounting plates, which may engage in relevant recesses of the body module in order to hereby bring the chassis module into a defined position in relation to the body module.
Although the chassis module may be aligned by the alignment elements in its relative position to the body module, it is not hereby achieved that individual components of the chassis module such as the spring struts or shock absorbers of front and rear axle, may adopt a desired mounting position so that these can be driven in each case into the relevant arch of the body unit. In addition, it must be ensured that no other vehicle components are damaged during driving into the body module.
This problem has been solved hitherto by using several trained workers who ensure by manual alignment that the spring struts or shock absorbers adopt a specified mounting position or insertion position during the marriage, which however, requires a relatively high deployment of staff, takes working time, and in this respect increases the staff costs in an undesirable manner.
In fully automated assembly stations, it is furthermore known to use automatically controlled alignment arms for the alignment of spring struts or shock absorbers, which arms are driven externally toward the chassis module in order to align the spring struts or shock absorbers. Although the deployment of workers for the manual alignment of the spring struts or shock absorbers may be avoided by such automatically controlled alignment arms, these require comparatively high investment costs. In addition, separate installation space must be made available since these must be driven from outside onto the chassis module mounted on the assembly stand. In the event of a functional failure or for necessary maintenance work, the complete assembly section must be stopped, with the result that the production costs are increased in an undesirable manner.
Accordingly, it is at least one object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive positioning device for spring struts or shock absorbers of the vehicle axle of a motor vehicle, which allows secure alignment of a spring strut or shock absorber during the marriage without additional mounting space needing to be made available outside the assembly stand. In addition, other objects, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary or detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.